My Houzz: Indoor-Outdoor Oasis With a Vacation Vibe

House at a Glance
Who lives here: Craig and Tara McGuire; their two sons, Mason, 17, and Aden, 15; their daughter, Samantha, 12; and their goldendoodle puppy, Charlie
Location: Austin, Texas
Size: The main home is 2,200 square feet (204 square meters); the casita is 750 square feet (70 square meters)
Year built: 1999

Barren Landscape Turned Outdoor Retreat

Before. In 2015, real estate agent Tara McGuire received a phone call about listing a house in her neighborhood in Austin, Texas. Upon touring the home, she was taken with the large backyard that faced a greenbelt and the potential it had as an outdoor living space. “The house itself was nothing special in its current state,” she says.

Both bathrooms had been renovated, but the main living space had damaged hardwood floors and the kitchen had dark laminate countertops, black tile floors, oak cabinets and original appliances and fixtures from 1999. Tara and her husband Craig McGuire, a construction contractor with Liberty Construction, and their three kids lived just half a mile from the house, so they decided to buy it. They came up with a renovation plan, including building a smaller detached unit they call their “casita” that would serve as a home office and guesthouse.

The home purchase came with an agreement to lease it back to the sellers for several months, which gave the family time to work out the details of reworking the house to suit their needs.

The lot is half an acre, which is quite large for the neighborhood. The pool and a covered cooking area with high-end appliances existed when they purchased the property. A large red-stained deck between the house and the pool was in disrepair and had wood rot. The previous owners let the grass go dormant in the winter and the yard was overrun with weeds.

The backyard makeover took a year in planning and seven months to complete, with the casita taking four months to build.

“In the end, the space is perfect for our family. I have an amazing work space and the kids have a great space to play video games, watch TV and my favorite: We now have the house where the kids want to hang out with friends,” Tara says. The McGuire family is pictured here from left: Aden, Tara, Craig, Mason and Samantha.

Most of the yard is natural grass, and the couple worked with Emerald Lawns to overhaul it and bring it back to health.

After. Tara designed the outdoor space using inspiration photos from Houzz and other internet sources. The design included 2-by-4-foot pavers that were difficult to find. The homeowners eventually found a fabricator in San Antonio who built a mold and custom made 144 concrete pavers for $3,000. Each paver weighed 180 pounds, and they were shipped on pallets.

One of the big challenges of the landscape design was getting the pavers perfectly positioned before artificial turf was installed in between them. “We love the turf. It is pet-friendly and is amazing for playing family game night without itching, or tournaments of cornhole with friends,” Tara says. The couple worked with Tough Lawn to install the artificial turf for $6,000.

White outdoor chaise lounges: Meelano; browse more outdoor lounge chairs

New Modern Casita and Guest House

This 750-square-foot detached unit functions as an office for Tara, a guesthouse for visitors and a place for the couple’s three children to hang out and play video games.

“I spent hours with graph paper and rope outside designing the perfect space,” Tara says. “After I had my vision perfected, we enlisted an architect to create drawings for our [homeowners association] and city of Austin approval.” Craig and a crew of subcontractors started construction on the unit in March of 2017 after all the permits were approved. The build was completed in four months and the total cost came out to $100,000.

“Designing and building the casita was even more challenging than the home remodel. We had grand plans of completing the work prior to summer, but subs are busy, permitting was slow and obstacles were many,” Tara says.

How to Add a Backyard Shed for Storage or Living

“Our goal was to incorporate the late ’90s style of the home, the rustic look of the cabana, and bring it all together with a modern design so that nothing looked out of place but complemented one another,” Tara says. “We used metal roof accents on the casita to match the cabana but were required to use composition shingles on the main roof to match the house per our neighborhood HOA. We were also required to use matching brick to the home on the bottom third.”

French doors from the office open to an outdoor living space and covered patio.

Tara works from home, and this office provides workspace for her and her assistant. “After I made the large furniture selections for the casita, interior designers Rita Droege Lopez and Debbie Clark Campsmith of Tarragona Designs helped with the rest. They repurposed my formal dining room table into a desk and painted it silver and white,” Tara says. The designers also created built-in storage and, in her words, “accessorized with things that I would never pick out, but that all came together in the most amazing way.”

Maskros pendant lamp: Ikea

Backyard Escapes: 8 Garden Sheds That Go Above and Beyond

The guesthouse and lounge area feature bright pops of color and a contemporary feel. The sectional folds out into a queen-size bed, while the two love seats become twin beds.

An orange sliding barn door separates the office from the guest suite.

Baja area rug: Momeni; poufs: Cost Plus World Market; Bamboo forest art: Art.com; accent pillows: West Elm and HomeGoods; Eliot corner sectional: Joybird; Eliot twin sleepers: Joybird

The homeowners worked with Gio’s Welding and Design to fabricate metal planter boxes surrounding the back of the home at a cost of $7,000.

The cabana next to the pool is stained a dark color similar to the exterior of the casita. Multiple seating areas create plenty of places for outdoor entertaining.

Craig made the orange coffee table using a cut-down barn door slab that was left over from the casita project. Craig’s mother made the colorful throw pillows.

Iron furniture and cushions: Restoration Hardware; Pattern stripe blue outdoor rug: Target

The poolside cabana is about 20 by 16 feet and includes a kegerator, sink, ice maker, refrigerator and custom knock-out for a Big Green Egg smoker. All of these appliances and features existed when the McGuires bought the house. Craig built a pad on the back side for a gas grill and added two fans, a TV and a Sonos wireless speaker sound system.

“We love watching TV in the evening. We even have figured out how to adjust the TV and speakers to do ‘pool movie night’ so we can float and watch our favorites,” Tara says.

Main House Gets a Makeover

Before. Seen here are original late ’90s oak cabinets, black floor tile and laminate countertops. All the walls shown were removed to create a large open kitchen and family room.

After. Removing a wall helped open up the space between the kitchen, dining room and family room. Laminated veneer lumber beams were stained by hand and added as ceiling support where the walls were removed.

Element crank table: Four Hands

The McGuires did most of the renovation work themselves. Tara designed the kitchen and Craig engineered the perfect pitch of the new ceiling. They made the decision to knock out part of the garage wall behind the kitchen so they could fit a full-size stainless steel refrigerator that would be flush with the cabinets.

“We love the open living space. The bedrooms are all small, but we feel it pulls the kids from their rooms to engage with us in the family room.”

Crank end table: Four Hands

Designing the master bedroom was somewhat challenging because of its awkward shape. Tara says she wanted the master bedroom to feel like a hotel room with a sitting area, bed and nightstands. She chose to forgo dressers, as built-in drawers hidden away in the closet give them all the storage they need.

The sitting area in the master bedroom looks out onto the pool area behind the house. “We work here, we live here, but we also want to feel like we are at a retreat when we are here,” Tara says.

Naval accent wall paint: Sherwin-Williams; Hali upholstered bed and nightstands: Langley Street; Medina duvet cover and pillow shams: Crate & Barrel; Hazy lattice rug: West Elm; nightstand lamps: HomeGoods; Industrial outline floor lamp: West Elm; Framed blue watercolor abstract: Target

See more photos of this home

My Houzz is a series in which we visit and photograph creative, personality-filled homes and the people who inhabit them. Share your home with us and see more projects.

More home tours: Apartments | Small Homes | Colorful Homes | Contemporary Homes | Eclectic Homes | Farmhouses | Midcentury Homes | Modern Homes | Ranch Homes | Traditional Homes | Transitional Homes | All